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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 1:50 pm Post subject: This is the Romo that shuts up haters, at least for now

If anyone has a link to rewatch the game, shoot me a PM. I threw my wife a surprise 30th b'day, so hosting duties got in the way of seeing every play.

Quote:

Regardless, this was the Romo everyone wants to see, this was the Romo that shuts up, for now, the army of Tony haters among Cowboys' fandom. He was a skilled passer on Wednesday night, but by now that should be a given.

He was also, however, a stand-tall leader, and that has never been a given. But in this kind of hostile environment against the Giants' kind of defense, and after starting the evening with a stupid interception, Romo displayed the kind of mental toughness that a team recognizes and groups behind.

Plus, here's a new one:

Romo, the skilled evaluator of talent.

When his favorite target of last season, Laurent Robinson, left the Cowboys in free agency, it was Romo who told Stephen Jones, the team's executive vice president, not to worry. "Kevin Ogletree is ready to play right now," Stephen said, quoting Romo

That Ryan Cook was active for Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the New York Giants was a bit of a surprise, considering he practiced with the team only three times following his acquisition in a trade from Miami.

That Cook took all but three snaps at center in the Cowboys’ 24-17 win is even more stunning, but he was pressed into duty when Phil Costa’s back tightened up in the first series.

“Average at best,” Cook said in describing his performance. “I think it took me awhile to get settled in. I hadn’t had many reps and really no reps with the (No. 1) offense. It took a little bit of an adjustment but now we’ve got a game under our belt and I look forward to next week.”

Mackenzy Bernardeau allowed a sack on Dallas second offensive play from scrimmage, but he and fellow guard Nate Livings, along with backup center Ryan Cook built a solid interior pocket for Tony Romo. The Giants ends pressured Romo, but from the second series forward, the Giants could not generate a consistent interior push. This gave Romo room to float in the pocket and extend plays.

The solid protection allowed Romo to rebound from a 2nd quarter interception. He led Dallas to 24 points on the team's last five possessions of the game. After a sluggish start, that saw New York with a 3-0 lead late in the 2nd quarter, Garrett and Romo found a play calling rhythm, one that carried over from the preseason.

4.) Hats off to Rob Ryan and the defense. The group looked greatly improved. Now that Ryan has some playmakers in the secondary there’s time for DeMarcus Ware and the pass rush to make plays up front. Ware (two sacks), Sean Lee (12 tackles and a forced fumble), Jason Hatcher, Bruce Carter, Anthony Spencer and Gerald Sensabaugh all stood out at different times. And getting Jay Ratliff back will only improve things. Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne were beaten on a few plays but that’s to be expected against the defending Super Bowl champs. Expect those two only to get better the longer they play with their new teammates. It was obvious that their play on the back end helped the Cowboys sack Manning three times.

Brandon Carr and rookie Morris Claiborne look like players, as advertised. Carr misjudged his leap on a 39-yard completion to Domenik Hixon that set up New York's first TD, which made him look a lot like since-departed Terence Newman. But overall, the free-agent addition and the rookie first-rounder were solid, playing man coverages on about 90% of the snaps, which is what defensive coordinator Rob Ryan needs in order to unload his full package of blitzes. So far, so good

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - After Tony Romo, Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys spoiled their home opener, the defending Super Bowl champions had to walk through the tunnel back into their locker room and hear it from Tom Coughlin.

That might've hurt more than any DeMarcus Ware sack or DeMarco Murray run.

"Take a bite out of humble pie," Coughlin said of his message to the New York Giants after their deflating 24-17 loss to the Cowboys at home. "It brings you right back to Earth."

“I felt like I dedicated myself to do that. Not only that I had help from Tony, Miles, Wit and the rest of the guys. I feel like they helped me out a lot and I learned a lot and we’re just going to keep moving.”

Bryant said he feels the Cowboys have a good team, “and we all have each other’s back.” He complimented Kevin Ogletree’s performance and marveled at Witten’s ability to come back so quickly from a lacerated spleen.

“It just makes you want to play harder,” Bryant said. “To see Wit go out there just gave us that extra push and helped us play at our best.

“Witten didn’t have to play with his spleen injury and really he shouldn’t have played but he showed heart. He gave us a little bit of momentum.”

"It's a big win obviously because we beat a divisional rival on the road and those are tough wins to come by, especially ones that are against the defending champs. But at the same time, if we want to get to where we want to go, you've got to put your head down and grind again and you just have to keep, win or loss, do it again.

"It makes the feeling better when you win, but it's going to be the same approach when I get back [Thursday] as if we had lost. You have to make it that way. It's the only way to get to where you want to be in this league."

But at the same time, if we want to get to where we want to go, you've got to put your head down and grind again and you just have to keep, win or loss, do it again.

"It makes the feeling better when you win, but it's going to be the same approach when I get back [Thursday] as if we had lost. You have to make it that way. It's the only way to get to where you want to be in this league."

As giddy as I am about the result and the performance of the Cowboys, we have seen this Romo before. He has had these type of games in the past and in fact, he has had quite a few of them. I want to see Romo and especially the team put up this kind of performance in Nov and Dec.. I am optimistic they will but still leery of a late season swoon.

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs._________________

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs.

You bring up an interesting point. Maybe this is something the coaching staff should consider. Ratliff is obviously not healthy and has been way more prone to fading away late in season. Maybe it would better serve him and the team to have Brent play on running downs. Have Ratliff come in and rush the passer and play DT in our 4-3 set. Then later on in the season, I believe we will get more out of him. Lets face it, he is 31 and has a lingering foot injury. Lets use him in certain situations and let him be fresh in key parts of the game._________________

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs.

Also consider the Giants were AWFUL at running the ball last year. So his isn't a good indicative of what's to come._________________

In Redball I Trust!The price of progress is trusting the process.
Heart. Leadership. Passion. Will.

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs.

Also consider the Giants were AWFUL at running the ball last year. So his isn't a good indicative of what's to come.

And consider we had the 7th best Run D in the NFL last year...and I don't recall us ever really giving up any big runs.

What killed us last year, was a terrible pass defense._________________
^^^El Rammy

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs.

Also consider the Giants were AWFUL at running the ball last year. So his isn't a good indicative of what's to come.

And consider we had the 7th best Run D in the NFL last year...and I don't recall us ever really giving up any big runs.

What killed us last year, was a terrible pass defense.

This is also true. I'm torn on it. I just worry about Ratliffs' health now and the fact that he hasn't worked out or played at all this season, save for a couple weeks of practice, also worries me._________________

Am I the only one that is a little worried about bringing Ratliff back? Yeah, he provides a great pass rush, but Josh Brent plugs up holes much better than Rat does. I would love Rat playing the five tech, but I think Brent needs to stay inside at nose for at least two downs.

Also consider the Giants were AWFUL at running the ball last year. So his isn't a good indicative of what's to come.

And consider we had the 7th best Run D in the NFL last year...and I don't recall us ever really giving up any big runs.

What killed us last year, was a terrible pass defense.

This is also true. I'm torn on it. I just worry about Ratliffs' health now and the fact that he hasn't worked out or played at all this season, save for a couple weeks of practice, also worries me.

I think that Ratliff is on the downslide of his career, and that when he is healthy he should be eased back into the swing of things. Even against a poor Giants running attack, our run D seemed better than it has in the past, and I think have Lissemore and Brent should continue to play 1st and 2nd downs even when Ratliff is back.

I was seriously surprised by all the media coverage saying that this is Romo's best game or that it's a turning point game in his career. He played really well but besides him compensating for the bad O-line play it was a pretty routine game for Romo, he had many game last year on par or better than this game, including the first game against the Giants imo._________________

I was seriously surprised by all the media coverage saying that this is Romo's best game or that it's a turning point game in his career. He played really well but besides him compensating for the bad O-line play it was a pretty routine game for Romo, he had many game last year on par or better than this game, including the first game against the Giants imo.

ditto.
I think the media simply plays their ROMO mantra backwards or forwards depending on whether the Cowboys win or loose..
Romo's Great
Romo's bad
Romo's Great
Romo's bad